Former Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard has filed an explosive civil lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs, claiming he savagely beat and berated Cassie and Kim Porter among a myriad of other alleged transgressions.
This is but the latest in a long line of lawsuits filed against the once unassailable music mogul since singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura blasted open the floodgates with her lawsuit against Diddy in November 2023.
In the scathing legal documents obtained by TMZ, Richard said Diddy incessantlyrebuked and belittled his female artists who were subordinates within his expansive Bad Boy Entertainment empire. He also frequently peppered contestants at the auditions for Danity Kane with dispiriting words such as “fat,” “ugly,” “b—–s” and “h–s.”
Dawn Richard claims to have seen bruises on Kim Porter, Diddy beating Cassie
Richard makes other incendiary claims in the lawsuit. She said she once showed up for work in 2005 and saw Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Kim Porter, the mother of four of his children, exiting a music studio in tears and with clear bruises on her face.
In 2009, Richard claims she saw a drugged-up Diddy throw Cassie against a wall, wrap his hands around her throat and then drag her up a flight of stairs in his mansion in Holmby Hills, a ritzy neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. On another occasion, Richard says Diddy threw a searing pan of eggs at Cassie and screamed, “I’ve been asking you for my s—; I can’t stand you, b—-. You never do it right!”
At some point, Richard said she and Dirty Money bandmate Kalenna Harper gathered the gumption to cajole Cassie into fleeing the Diddy relationship. Richard said Diddy went volancic on her once he found out about the conversations with Cassie.
Diddy allegedly threatened Dawn Richard’s life
“Y’all b——s don’t get in my relationship,” Diddy supposedly said. “Don’t tell my b—- [Cassie] what she need to be doing … Just make money and shut the f— up … I end artists … I shelve careers … You could be missing … You b—–s want to die today.”
Further into the complaint, Richard talked about how he would work her relentlessly, sometimes 48 hours at a time without sleep, which caused her to lose weight, become dehydrated, and break out in skin rashes. Another time, he barged into her dressing room unannounced while she was naked and massaged her breast and buttocks.
Dawn Richard’s father allegedly confronted Diddy
It got so bad, allegedly, that Richard once called her father to come get her after Diddy locked her in a tinted car for hours. When the father drove from Baltimore to New York to confront Diddy, he allegedly delivered a subtle warning to the dad:
“Think about your daughter” and “think about your daughter’s career.”
